The Georgia Straight - Transmissions - Aug 29, 2019

FREE | AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 5 / 2019

Volume 53 | Number 2693

OVERDOSE AWARENESS Photo captures families’ pain

HOMEGROWN EXTRACTS No solvents are necessary

RICHMOND WORLD FEST Bridging different cultures

Transmissions Lisa Jackson creates an immersive journey that melds film, sound, sculpture, science, and Indigenous languages to reimagine Earth’s future

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AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 5 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 3

CONTENTS

August 29 – September 5 / 2019

13 COVER

With her massive film installation, artist Lisa Jackson takes viewers on a journey into Indigenous futurism.

By Janet Smith Cover photo by Emily Cooper

6

CANNABIS

Lovers of hashish and concentrates can legally make these extracts at home without the use of solvents.

By Adolfo Gonzalez

7

NEWS

Dozens of meetings and activities will take place in B.C. on International Overdose Awareness Day.

By Travis Lupick

11

FOOD

A local online bakery business has finally found a permanent home in Chinatown.

By Tammy Kwan

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19 MUSIC

Said the Whale celebrates a dozen years of existence by setting the stage for the next musical generation.

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e Start Here 16 ARTS HOT TICKET 21 CONFESSIONS 11 HEALTH 8 HOROSCOPES 11 I SAW YOU 17 MOVIE REVIEWS 23 SAVAGE LOVE 10 TECHNOLOGY 14 THEATRE

e Online TOP 5

e Listings 16 ARTS 21 MUSIC

e Services 21 CLASSIFIEDS

EV E RY E N C O RE RE WA RDS M E M B E R W I L L REC E I V E A SC R ATC H CA RD O N S U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 1 ST F RO M 9A M TO M I D N I G H T. RULES APPLY. PRIZES ARE DETERMINED BY ENCORE DIAMOND LEVEL STATUS. MUST BE AN ENCORE REWARDS MEMBER TO RECEIVE SCRATCH CARD. PRIZES FOR HOTEL AND FOOD OFFERS EXPIRE 30 DAYS AFTER REDEMPTION. ALL OTHER PRIZES MUST BE REDEEMED ON SEPTEMBER 1ST. ONE (1) PER ENCORE REWARDS MEMBER. WHILE QUANITITES LAST. FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED. BLACK OUT DATES MAY APPLY. VISIT PLAYERS CLUB FOR DETAILS.

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1 2 3 4 5

Fairchild Radio host resigns after community uproar.

B.C. tribunal issues ruling on roommates’ feud over Airbnb.

New app gives pet owners easy access to veterinarians.

No charges laid in connection with racist remarks in Richmond.

NDP government sued

by Single Mothers’ Alliance of B.C.

GeorgiaStraight @GeorgiaStraight @GeorgiaStraight

The Georgia Straight is published every Thursday by the Vancouver Free Press Publishing Corp. Copies are distributed free every week throughout Vancouver, Burnaby, North and West Vancouver, New Westminster, and Richmond. International Standard Serial Number ISSN 0709-8995. Subscription rates in Canada $182.00/52 issues (includes GST), $92.00/26 issues (includes GST); United States $379.00/52 issues, $205.00/26 issues; foreign $715.00/52 issues, $365.00/26 issues. Contact 604-730-7087 if you wish to distribute free copies of the Georgia Straight at your place of business. Entire contents copyright © 2019 Vancouver Free Press, Best Of Vancouver, Bov And Golden Plates Are Trade-Marks Of Vancouver Free Press Publishing Corp. SUBMISSIONS The Straight accepts no responsibility for, and will not necessarily respond to, any submitted materials. All submissions should be addressed to contact@straight.com.

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Here’s what people are reading this week on Straight.com.

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AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 5 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 5

CANNABIS

Solvents unnecessary to create extracts at home

by Adolfo Gonzalez

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W

ith hordes of Canadians taking to their backyards and basements this year with the aim of growing their first batches of legally produced homegrown cannabis flowers, hash and concentrate lovers should be reminded that there are safe and legal options for making extracts at home.

First off, it should be noted that using any form of flammable organic solvent (butane, propane, ethanol, et cetera) to make a cannabis concentrate at home is illegal and dangerous. All of these methods should be conducted by professionals at licensed facilities with explosion-proof containment walls, and for good reason.

Now, fortunately, there are several methods that the home enthusiast can safely and legally apply, each of which renders a product of distinct quality. These “solventless” extraction methods have achieved legendary status among what is now a global community of craft growers and connoisseur consumers.

Three solventless extraction methods have become craft favourites:

together—hardening the oily secretions on the surface of the plant matter (a.k.a. trichomes) and allowing them to more easily break off through the stirring motion until they reach a screen of the right size, where they are captured. This light-coloured residue is then dried in a box with parchment paper, leaving behind delicious clumps of hash, ready to consume.

ROSIN

DRY-SIFT HASH

The rosin-press method involves pressing buds at high pressures between two warm, flat surfaces. The bud is typically placed in wax paper before being pressed so that the oily secretions can be captured at the periphery of the flattened bud chip. Yes, it sounds like a terrible thing to do to your prized buds, but remember that you can still cook with that flattened chip (good for a spicy tomato sauce!), and you will have gained one of the most mouthwatering extracts in existence, assuming you used good-quality bud. The golden rule is always that quality buds make quality hash, no matter the method.

BUBBLE HASH

A long-time favourite on the B.C. coast, thanks to inventor and solventless-hash-scene legend Marcus “Bubbleman” Richardson. His company produces and sells the world-renowned bubble-bag system, which allows anyone to safely make hash using water and ice. Essentially, you put the starting material (whether leaf or bud) into a bucketlike container with a series of mesh-screen filter bags, each one slightly finer than the one before.

Buds or leaf are placed in the bags with water and ice, which then get stirred

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6 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 5 / 2019

Hashish like this can be made with the bubble-bag method. Photo by Mjpresson

Cannabis confab aims to normalize weed consumption

by Charlie Smith

F

or many British Columbians, ICBC is the public auto insurer. But in the world of weed, those four letters are an acronym for the International Cannabis Business Conference, which is the only business-to-business cannabis gathering that takes place on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Founded by Oregon-based medicalcannabis pioneer Alex Rogers, it will be held at the Westin Bayshore on September 15 and 16. Among the presenters will be California Bureau of Cannabis Control chief Lori Ajax, four-time NBA-championship winning player and cannabis entrepreneur John Salley, and B.C. lawyer John Conroy, whose victories in the Supreme Court of Canada set the stage for legalization of pot in Canada. An after-party will be held with DJ Muggs of the cannabis-loving band Cypress Hill.

“I’m a magna cum laude political science graduate and I’ve been smoking weed every day since I was 16 years old,” the multilingual, globetrotting Rogers told the Straight by phone from Slovenia. “We’re normal

One of the most ancient forms of hash-making, still going strong today. This one is easy to understand I guess I’m a big and to do: cured buds are tumbled business guy in on fine-mesh screens, typically using rotating and/or vibrating one way, but my mechanisms, allowing the particuheart is still late to break off and collect underneath. The right-size mesh screen pretty hippie. allows for mostly only the oily se– Alex Rogers cretions (trichomes) to be collected.

The fine powder that results from the process—often called kif—can be easily pressed into hash with a bit of pressure and time. The remaining plant material is less potent after be- people. I want to normalize it.” ing tumbled, but it is still very much To advance that objective, he puts usable for smoking or vaporizing. on annual ICBC events in San Francisco, Barcelona, Berlin, and Bern, in Concentrate fans will have legal addition to Vancouver. His mentor extracts available for purchase at was pioneering cannabis-legalization dispensaries as of December 2019, advocate Jack Herer, author of The Embut thanks to solventless-extraction peror Wears No Clothes. Rogers, like methods like these, you don’t have to Herer, looks upon cannabis as a herb wait until then. Also keep in mind that should be completely decriminalthat you will likely have to pay as ized. According to the ICBC founder, if much as $100 per gram once they are someone is buying or selling cannabis available at dispensaries, while home without a licence, the worst outcome enthusiasts will be able to make sol- should be a civil fine or a penalty for ventless products like these for a not paying taxes on any earnings. small fraction of that price. g “As Jack used to say, we should treat it like tomatoes,” Rogers said.

Adolfo Gonzalez is a cofounder of CannaReps.

Rogers said that he launched the Canadian conference in Vancouver over Toronto three years ago because he “felt really comfortable with all the freaks in Vancouver”.

“I guess I’m a big business guy in one way, but my heart is still pretty hippie,” Rogers said.

Vancouver craft cannabis advocate Jamie Shaw, chief communications and culture officer at Pasha Brands, has been working with Rogers and other old-school activists on these conferences from their inception.

“They do a really good job of connecting different sides of the industry that actually are aligned,” Shaw told the Straight in an interview at a West Side coffee shop. “They’ll bring in the suits but they’re the suits that actually respect the plant and respect the work that’s been done up to this point. It’s not the other suits.”

Along with them are those on the illicit side of the business. According to Shaw, that’s only because the legal frameworks aren’t working for these conference participants, and not because they’re ideologically opposed to the industry.

“It’s great to have those ties internationally now so that it doesn’t all go through the pharma channels and the banking channels,” she said.

Rogers described Vancouver as “one of our juggernaut events”, adding that he plans to increase the number of these conferences around the world. g

NEWS

Activists want action on overdoses

E

by Travis Lupick

arlier this month, Leslie McBain travelled to Kelowna to spend time with a woman who had lost a first and then a second son to drug overdoses.

“She’s a good friend and she goes up and down, so I was there to take care of her,” McBain recounted in a telephone interview.

McBain is a founding member of Moms Stop the Harm (MSTH), a national group of parents who have lost family members to Canada’s overdose crisis. While she was in Kelowna, MSTH members there partnered with a photographer named Nicole Richard. McBain went with them as they carried crosses and gathered in a field of tall grass that overlooks Okanagan Lake. And there they remembered their children.

“Every single person in the photograph has lost their world in the loss of their child,” McBain told the Straight.

“It’s hard to keep telling that story and telling that story without having any appreciable movement from the feds,” she continued. “They’re rolling out money and everybody is talking and there are zillions of committees and meetings, but nothing is changing.”

The Kelowna photograph was taken ahead of International Overdose Awareness Day, this Saturday (August 31), and roughly two months in advance of Canada’s next federal election, which must take place by October 21.

McBain said the message for this year’s overdose-awareness day is therefore inevitably more political than the organization is normally comfortable with.

“Trudeau is fucking up all over the place,” she said. “But if we lose the

Members of Moms Stop the Harm remember the children they have lost to drug overdoses. Photo by Nicole Richard

Liberals, we lose so much ground.

They are rolling out money, they do consult with Moms Stop the Harm all the time.…We’re locked in with them and I’m afraid that if the Conservatives get in, we’re going to have to start back at square one.”

On Saturday, Moms Stop the Harm will have a booth at the Vancouver Public Library’s Central Branch where members will share information about coping with grief and loss. According to OverdoseDay.com, it will be one of dozens of meetings and activities scheduled throughout B.C. and dozens more across Canada.

In Vancouver’s Downtown East-

side, the Overdose Prevention Society, a nonprofit that operates an injection site at 58 East Hastings, is establishing a consultation service that will help people connect to health and social services.

“We’ve been doing a mural project in the alley, and beginning on the eve of overdose-awareness day, we’re wrapping that up with an art show, with the artists who put their work in the alley,” the organization’s cofounder and executive director, Sarah Blyth, told the Straight.

“People can check it out.”

Of the Overdose Prevention Society’s new consultation service, Blyth said it will focus on connecting

people who are addicted to opioids with a regulated supply.

There are several Downtown Eastside locations that offer prescription opioids as a safer alternative to street drugs. The Crosstown Clinic has prescription diacetylmorphine (the medical term for heroin), the Pier Health Resource Centre provides patients with a similar drug called hydromorphone (brand name Dilaudid), and the PHS Community Services Society offers hydromorphone as well as slow-release oral morphine.

(All three organizations also prescribe more traditional substitutes for illicit opioids, such as methadone and Suboxone.)

There were 538 illicit-drug overdose deaths in B.C. during the first six months of 2019 and 1,533 the year before. More than 85 percent of them involved the dangerous synthetic opioids fentanyl and carfentanil.

David Mendes is a cofounder of a new group called the Canadian Association for Safe Supply (CASS) and a member of a community-based arts research project called Illicit.

He told the Straight that on Saturday evening, they’re planning to deliver a special performance of its show, also called Illicit, in the same alley where the Overdose Prevention Society’s mural project is wrapping up this week. Like McBain, Mendes believes that the October federal election gives this year’s overdose-awareness day a more political theme.

“We can’t tell you how to vote,” he said, “but we can ask people to explore the option of aligning themselves with politicians and parties that do support things like safe supply and decriminalization.”

In past years, International Overdose Awareness Day events have come together with considerable support from members of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU). But vice-president Laura Shaver told the Straight that for 2019, the 21-year-old organization is largely sitting out.

“We don’t have anything planned this year,” she said in a telephone interview. Shaver noted that five years into the fentanyl crisis, after hosting overdose events year after year, many VANDU members can’t bring themselves to do it yet again.

“People are so burned-out from so many deaths that it’s gotten hard to rally a big group,” she explained. “It’s very sad, but that’s the way it is.” g

AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 5 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 7

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ack-to-it time is well-supported by a stellium of Virgo bodies. Mercury’s advance on Thursday brings the tally up to five. The grouping includes the sun, Venus, Mars, and Juno (the contract asteroid). As if that isn’t enough to get you to roll up your sleeves, Friday’s super new moon in Virgo provides an extra energy boost.

Before we hit the ground running, there’s a long weekend to enjoy. The transiting moon in Libra offers the promise of social activity and romance. Sunday, Mercury/ Uranus keeps it stimulating and interesting, while Venus/Saturn puts good timing to good use. Labour Day Monday opens with Mars/sun and Venus/Jupiter stirring up the motivation and the action. These transits keep us busy with things to do and things to buy. It is likely to be a cash-in few days for sellers and retailers.

Back-to-it Tuesday delivers a good opportunity for a fresh start.

Thinker, planner, and communicator Mercury sets new wheels in motion with both Mars and the sun, while the transiting moon in Scorpio stacks the day with creative contacts to just about every planet.

The spoken, read, witnessed, written, or signed—this day holds great sway. It is excellent for making an impact, creating a dynamic first impression, and/or setting your power play in motion.

While Tuesday keeps us on target, Wednesday is set against a f luid backdrop. There’s a process to it. Feel your way along, watch it unfold. Despite uncertainty in the mix, Mercury’s trine to Saturn on Thursday is helpful for regaining sure-footedness. One down, plenty more to go; Friday ends the workweek with a sense of so far, so good, getting a handle on it.

A

ARIES

B

TAURUS

March 20–April 20

Looking for that missing key? You are likely to put your hands or your heart on it soon enough.

Friday’s super new moon in Virgo sets the stage for better productivity and for working it out. Back-to-it Tuesday is accompanied by a host of planets setting you up for a great kickoff! Dive deep, dive right in!

April 20–May 21

It’s an optimum time to start a new job or career track, a new health or training program. Attitude is everything! Don’t fear the work, relish it for the opportunity it presents. While your to-do list or need could be significant, launch it and you could hit gain faster than you anticipate. Don’t settle for less, from yourself, from anyone.

C

GEMINI

May 21–June 21

Squeezing the last drop out of the long weekend? Tackling chores and projects? No doubt you are a busy one! Home, head, and heart keep you burning extra calories over this next week! Despite your overly full plate, you should find most things fall into place readily and well. The weekahead stars keep you on a great run.

D

CANCER

June 21–July 22

Mercury now joins the sun, Venus, and Mars in Virgo. Friday’s super new moon and Tuesday’s transits are optimum for upgrades of all kinds. It’s an excellent time to study or train, to seek professional advice, or to meet with a medical specialist. Don’t hesitate to bring up a touchy subject. Use the week ahead for talks, meetings, interviews, and problem-solving.

E 8 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 5 / 2019

LEO

July 22–August 23

Mercury leaves Leo for Virgo on Thursday, but you can expect the quick-thinking one

to continue to support you well, especially over this next week.

Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, and next Thursday are best for action: scoop a bargain, take advantage of the moment, sign a contract, start the conversation, meet up, set wheels in motion. Stick to what’s simple, short, and most expedient.

F

VIRGO

G

LIBRA

H

SCORPIO

I

SAGITTARIUS

J

CAPRICORN

K

AQUARIUS

L

PISCES

August 23–September 23

Looking for that “it” moment? It’s here now! Take your best shot. A total of five planetary bodies are freshly at it in Virgo (including Juno, the contract asteroid). Boosted also by Friday’s super new moon, no doubt you’ll be feeling that energy infusion big-time! Recommit to your well-being or get-ahead program.

One small step can springboard you someplace good!

September 23–October 23

You have more on the go than you (or those who know you) may recognize. Potentials are on a stir-up over this next week. Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday, Venus is on the move. Friday, Monday, and Tuesday, the sun keeps the action well-sparked. Mercury rounds out the week. What does it all mean?

Every day over this next week is infused with opportunity!

October 23–November 22

Busy days lie ahead! Enjoy your weekend but expect to hit the ground running as of full-steamahead Tuesday. In addition to fresh undertakings, the day is well set for discussions, negotiations, studies, planning, meetings, research, and working it out. Even though you have been forced to change course, you are exactly on track. Don’t look back. Keep going!

November 22–December 21

One way or another, it is time to roll up your sleeves! This is not the time to let things slide.

There is too much riding on the moment and the clock is ticking.

Favourable planetary aspects extending from Friday’s super new moon through the whole week ahead set an opportune backdrop.

Working it out can go easier than you anticipate.

December 21–January 20

Fresh opportunity is out there! Friday’s super new moon gets the ball rolling. Tuesday is an excellent day for a fresh start, to sign a contract, or to meet up. Successgenerating Saturn is in good favour with Venus on Sunday, Mercury next Thursday, and the sun next Friday.

By week’s end, you should feel a sense of good accomplishment.

January 20–February 18

Things to sort out? A long to-do list? A relationship issue or financial rebuilding weighing on you? There is no better time to get at it than right now. By all means, take the long weekend off (it’s a pleasant one), but plan to hit the ground running as of Tuesday.

Solid gains can be made.

February 18–March 20

People and relationships keep you especially busy over this next week. Perhaps there’s a new involvement or added concern claiming attention. Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday are optimum for having another talk, or checking in with folks again. They are also good for a contract revision or renewal, upgrades, additional training, and improvement where necessary and desired. g

Book a reading or sign up for Rose’s free monthly newsletter at rosemarcus.com/.

Ryan McDonald Corporate Chef, Urban Fare

AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 5 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 9

FEATURE

Fest embraces Vietnamese community

by Carlito Pablo

M

eeting the organizer of TaiwanFest represents something deeper to Thai-Hoa Le than simply making a new acquaintance.

For the Vancouver-based actor, getting to know Charlie Wu was like finding kin worthy of admiration.

“I’m meeting an older brother who I can look up to,” Le told the Georgia Straight by phone from a location near North Bay, Ontario, where he is shooting the TV series Rising Suns.

As president of the Southeast Asian Cultural Heritage Society (SEACHS), Le considers himself “philosophically aligned” with Wu. Being the managing director of the Asian-Canadian Special Events Association (ACSEA), the group behind TaiwanFest, Wu fosters intercultural dialogue, a pursuit that Le has committed himself to.

This year’s celebration of TaiwanFest has an added significance to Le because of his Vietnamese heritage.

The festival features the theme Riding the Waves With Vietnam, the fourth installment of its Dialogue With Asia series, which has previously engaged communities from Hong Kong, Japan, and the Philippines. SEACHS, which has deep roots within the local Vietnamese community, is also a partner in the festival, which will feature performances, food, exhibits, and activities. TaiwanFest happens in downtown Vancouver this Labour Day weekend.

“Vietnamese culture is being acknowledged,” Le said. “It is being acknowledged because there are commonalities. There is a dialogue that can be established. And one can be better at that dialogue when one really knows where one comes from.”

Not often do we get a festival of a particular culture reaching out to another one.

– Thai-Hoa Le

Vancouver-based actor Thai-Hoa Le is the president of the Southeast Asian Cultural Heritage Society, which is a partner in this year’s edition of TaiwanFest.

Culture and dialogue are important concepts for Le because of the lingering animosities in his community, which can be traced back to the Vietnam War. “It is our karma to surmount,” Le said.

Most of the first big wave of Vietnamese settlers in Canada arrived as refugees. They fled after U.S.–backed South Vietnam fell to communist North Vietnam and its allies in South Vietnam in 1975. By the Canadian government’s account, more than 60,000 refugees had arrived in the country by the end of 1980.

Vietnamese immigration continued in the following decades, and many newcomers are sympathetic to the communist government

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that rules a united Vietnam.

In the 2016 census, Statistics Canada counted over 240,000 people of Vietnamese ancestry.

While the Vietnamese community is “not entirely united”, Le sees its shared culture as an avenue for dialogue.

“While there is an acceptance that needs to be done, people still want to congregate in a place where they can focus on the culture, and where they can agree on the culture, where they feel at home,” he said. “And so, as a member of the board, I believe that at SEACHS, we can create that space.”

As a figure in the community, Le is in an ideal position to encourage dialogue, because he is an “outside party” to the past conflict. Le was

born and raised in Montreal; his Vietnamese parents met as students in Canada during the Vietnam War, and aligned themselves with the peace movement at the time.

“It allowed me to grow up as a North American kid, free of a certain level of trauma related to the war,” Le said of his upbringing.

According to him, this created a “space” in his psyche that enabled him to critically study the history of Vietnam.

“Because they were part of a movement that basically just wanted Vietnam to be one people—but back then it was an endeavour that existed in times of a military conf lict—I think I have inherited as a Canadian Vietnamese that desire to create a ground where all Vietnamese can come together,” Le said about his parents.

When ACSEA and Wu sought SEACHS as a community partner for the Riding the Waves With Vietnam edition of TaiwanFest, Le’s organization considered it a duty.

“Not often do we get a festival of a particular culture reaching out to another one, and because we do have a strong network within the Vietnamese community and we do want to pave a path that is nontraditional within our community, it was a matter of obligation for us to accept the task of reaching out the best we could, and engaging the Vietnamese community,” Le said.

In a separate interview, Wu said that this year’s TaiwanFest is a celebration of the similarities and connections between the people of the two countries. According to Wu, Taiwanese and Vietnamese peoples have prevailed over historical ordeals like conflicts, and are making progress wherever they are.

“We tend to see enough waves in our lifetimes, so we thought that we’d ride the waves together for the better future,” Wu told the Straight by phone.

For Le, his and SEACHS’s goals in TaiwanFest are “modest”. Just making the Vietnamese community aware of the festival is “already a success”.

“Everybody has their own way to reconnect to the culture of their ancestry, and I entirely agree with that,” Le said.

“And I entirely agree with the practice of noncoerciveness, that everybody has their own pace, their own ways, and their own path. But then again, if there’s already something out there, and we have the means to encourage it, then I think from the perspective of a nonprofit like SEACHS, we have an obligation to support.” g TaiwanFest runs from Saturday to Monday (August 31 to September 2) in downtown Vancouver on Granville Street and at various venues. Info is at taiwanfest.ca/vancouver/.

Tech brings joy to dogs’ final years

by Kate Wilson

T

he saddest time in a dog’s life, according to many, is its final years. Aging pooches start to slow down and can struggle with basic tasks such as walking, jumping, and eating. It’s a stage that can cause distress among owners.

Dog enthusiast and project manager Ann-Marie Fleming believes in reconfiguring that mindset.

“I would love if we could change the perspective on senior dogs, [and show people] that it’s this exciting, and fun, and adventurous time of a dog’s life,” she tells the Georgia Straight on the line from the BCIT Burnaby campus. “There’s just something really special about them.

They have this lifetime of experience under their belt, so they know exactly who they are and what they like. And then on the other side, I find that there’s something about their vulnerability that creates this really deep bond, and I feel so close to them when they’re at this stage of life.”

After beginning her career as a product manager for financial and software firms, she left her job to pursue the area that had captured her enthusiasm: building a business that catered to elderly dogs. Her company, Dog Quality, focuses on two big categories—managing incontinence and increasing mobility. Fleming’s current product line offers ramps, traction socks, and strollers, but the entrepreneur felt something was missing from her catalogue.

“I adore strollers,” she says. “And the reason I love them is because your dog, especially a senior, can walk for as long as they’re capable and then ride when they need the rest. But what happens—and I’m seeing it personally with Lily, my 14-year-old pug—is that those intervals where she’s able to walk and get her exercise are just becoming shorter and shorter. She’s so uncomfortable walking that I feel that she’s riding a lot more.

“Our challenge is that you know exercise is good for them, but you also know it’s difficult,” she continues.

“And our thinking is that, just like in the human world, sometimes it’s just a product and assistive device that can help you accomplish that goal. You see it every day— people with their canes and their scooters and their walkers still getting around, but with the help of some type of assistive device. It’s no different with a dog.”

To fill that niche, Fleming connected with BCIT through the National Research Council’s IRAP program, an initiative designed to accelerate the research and development projects of Canadian innovators.

There, she found Silvia Raschke, the project leader at MAKE+, who boasted a background in orthotics, assistive technology design, and canine welfare. Together, they set out to create Fleming’s new product: an

Ann-Marie Fleming’s company, Dog Quality, helps improve the lives of dogs in their senior years. Photo by Scott McAlpine

effective wheelchair for senior dogs.

“We’re literally trying to solve problems for industry partners,” Raschke tells the Straight, discussing the BCIT program. “We really enjoy partnering with companies that already have access to a market, who understand price points, understand what it is to take something from a prototype and get into manufacturing, and to get it to customers.”

Fleming began the process with an idea of what she wanted the wheelchair to accomplish. Drawing on her own research and experiences, she wanted the device to support dogs even if they had a weak front end or back end, or multiple health conditions. She didn’t want the wheelchair to have leg rings, and it had to be very lightweight and manoeuvrable. Working with MAKE+ and its iterative design process, the team created a product with a bespoke dog support harness, featherweight frame, and multidirectional wheels generated from months of research with vets and senior-dog owners. Fleming anticipates that the finished product—a chair that will fit all sizes of dogs at an affordable price—will hit the market in mid-2020.

“It’s easy for us to get caught up in the fact that our dog is changing and slowing down,” she says. “If we think it’s a sad time, then the dog will pick up on that energy.

So products like this are how we help people continue to have fun together, even if their dog is a senior. Hopefully, a wheelchair like this will help people to enjoy that.” g

FOOD

Online bakery operator opens shop in Chinatown

J

by Tammy Kwan

amie Tung, owner and founder of Buttermere Patisserie, is no stranger to owning a bakery business, even without a brickand-mortar shop. She’s been doing it for the past three years by taking orders online through her website and WeChat, the multifunctional Chinese social-media platform.

But Tung has finally found a permanent home for her pastry shop, and guests can do more than merely ogle Instagram images of her photogenic sweets.

Buttermere Cafe (636 Main Street) opened last month, occupying the former home of Greenderful Juice and Salad. The 1,000-square-foot space can accommodate 16 guests, and maintains pretty much the same interior as its predecessor, save for some fresh coats of accent paint and minimal décor.

The young pastry chef still works out of the commissary kitchen at Torafuku (958 Main Street) down the street, but Buttermere’s followers now have a spot to sit down and enjoy dessert without having to commit to a cake order that usually has to be placed 48 hours in advance. In other words, its customers don’t have to plan ahead to enjoy its sweet treats.

The neighbourhood spot specializes in French baking infused with Asian flavours, and its creations are noticeably lower in sugar, without compromising on taste.

“To start, we have cake rolls with mostly Asian flavours because we are in Chinatown, so we just want to tie in with the environment and community,” Tung told the Straight in an interview at her new café. Those flavours include mango, Thai empire tea, and hojicha, while other menu items like

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 24, 2019 WHERE: Ruckle Park You were with your friend, I was with mine. We all sat around the fire pit, you were cooking supper and I was roasting, I mean, burning, marshmallow. Saw you again the next morning while leaving the campground. You seem kind, I wish I wasn’t so shy to introduce myself.

NOT STEVIE RAY VAUGHN

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 21, 2019 WHERE: AT A BUS STOP NEAR CENTRAL LIBRARY

Mango cake roll is on the menu at the Buttermore Cafe. Photo by Tammy Kwan

salty egg-yolk cream puffs, mango cheesecake, and yogurt cloud (made with raspberry sponge and yogurt mousse) are also available.

At the coffee bar, beverages like cappuccino, Americano, espresso, and hot chocolate can be found. A unique hot cocoa, “ruby is the new black”, made with Barry Callebaut’s inventive ruby chocolate, is also served.

Don’t expect to find the same treats each time, because the offerings are seasonal and will rotate often. Tung travels extensively to attend master classes and workshops, which ultimately inspire her cakes and pastries.

“In Chinatown, I think there’s a lot of diversity and [it’s] a good place to blend in and attract a diverse customer base,” said Tung. “I’m also going to try experiments with vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free products.” g

We had a moment but I’m not SRV. We had a great conversation, but jumping on the bus with you would have been kind of creepy. I will be at the Billy Idol show for sure on Saturday.

Please find me if you feel inclined. I would like to get to know you better. Keep Well.

BABY LEO BY TROUT LAKE!

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 25, 2019 WHERE: Marshall Street Yard Sale Me: helping my friend sell his stuff at a yard sale, holding an adorable baby. You: 3 lovely people plus an adorable baby of your own. After you left with your purchases I wished I’d gotten your number! Let me know if you want an extra baby/mama friend to visit at the park :)

FERRY FROM VICTORIA

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 25, 2019 WHERE: Ferry/Bus/SkyTrain I saw you at the ferry terminal, on the ferry, on the bus and then we rode the same SkyTrain carriage back to Vancouver. You got off at Olympic Village. I don’t think I’ve been so stunned to the point of feeling awkward even looking in someone’s direction. You have striking features and are utterly beautiful.

Dress remarkably well, too.

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 24, 2019 WHERE: Save on foods, Marine Dr., N Van I can't believe I am actually posting this. Yet here I am... If you remember going for the baskets, trying to chat in line and our actual conversation a few minutes later hit me up. I'd love to connect. S

ON THE BUS 100 ON MARINE DRIVE

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 22, 2019 WHERE: Marine Drive I met you on the bus 100 on Marine Drive towards 22nd Street. You had a black hoodie and dark hair. I was eating a frosty. I have dark hair and had black hoodie as well. You sat next to me for a while. I think we would be cute together.

LEAVING THE P!NK SHOW

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: APRIL 5, 2019 WHERE: On Your Walk to the SkyTrain After P!nk We walked up to the corner - I think near a SkyTrain station or maybe up to Burrard and Richards. It's been so long since I was in Vancouver I can't remember the street names plus I was a little tipsy. Had a great conversation the whole way, the vibe was fun and the conversation was easy. You and your friend where with your daughters. I had such a fun night - thanks for being a part of it!!

CONVERSE/COFFEE

r

A

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Yoga operator wins after banning sex-addicted client

B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has dismissed a discrimination complaint filed against a yoga studio by a former client.

The ex-customer claimed that he was stopped from attending Westcoast Yoga and Wellness after he disclosed his mental disability, including a history of addiction to pornography.

The White Rock–based yoga studio countered that Erik Rutherford’s mental-health issues have nothing to do with its decision to keep him out. Westcoast filed an application to dismiss the complaint, which was granted.

> Go on-line to read hundreds of I Saw You posts or to respond to a message < SALT SPRING CAMPING

HEALTH

s

SUNDAY DRIVE

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 25, 2019 WHERE: Broadway and Nanaimo You, and a friend, were in a black muscle car. I was the blonde in a white convertible with a golden retriever in the back. Drinks?

KELLY FROM SURREY

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 22, 2019 WHERE: Ambleside I think back fondly to our brief but sweet companionship; It was fun and you are a beautiful woman, indeed. I sure wish that I could have continued at your friend’s place, poolside, the next day!

TALL HOTTIE IN GREEN RAINCOAT CROSSING DUNSMUIR

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 21, 2019 WHERE: Dunsmuir and Burrard Me: disheveled coming from a horrible day at work carrying a planter pot and a basketball.

You: tall, beard, blondish hair, green raincoat and greentoned backpack heading towards Blackbird pub on Dunsmuir. We made brief eye contact while walking in the intersection and I saw you look back... any chance you were looking back at me? I promise I'm much better looking literally any other day!

BTW you're a stud. Drinks at blackbird? I'll leave the planter pot at home. Might bring the basketball.

CUTIE RIDING THE ALL-CITY

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 20, 2019 WHERE: Starbucks London Station (Surrey)

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 19, 2019 WHERE: 10th Avenue

You: Green Chuck Taylor’s. Me: Burgundy Chuck Taylor’s. I wanted to chat further & was poised to give you my number but saw what I thought “might” be a wedding ring and zipped it.

Regretting not finding out for sure lol. Surprise me...

I caught up to you at Fraser, you caught up to me at Kingsway and flashed me a big smile. I was in pink, you in all black. Wanted to say something but we got separated at the next light. Want to go for a ride some time?

Visit straight.com to post your FREE I Saw You _

AFGHAN CUISINE

Westcoast says Mr. [Erik] Rutherford told her he was seeking help with sex addiction

22 NDAnnual

2019

SINCE 2008

Open 7 Nights A Week from 5pm to close

– Emily Ohler

1833 Anderson St. (2nd Floor) Vancouver

BEFORE THE ENTRANCE TO GRANVILLE ISLAND, RIGHT BEHIND THE STARBUCKS

As tribunal member Emily Ohler related in her reasons for decision, Rutherford was banned after he kept harassing staff and making accusations that they were gossiping about him. According to Ohler, Rutherford’s refusal to stop contacting teachers and the studio “left them no choice”. Ohler recalled that Rutherford was a client of Westcoast for about eight years.

One employee at the yoga studio has a business outside of Westcoast, which is personal health coaching.

“At some point, Mr. Rutherford sought to become a client of the Coach at her business,” Ohler wrote. “She declined to accept him. Westcoast says Mr. Rutherford told her he was seeking help with sex addiction, which the Coach said was not her field.”

According to Westcoast, things got worse from there. Ohler related that Rutherford had said that he got in touch with the coach “out of trust as she had offered her health coaching business” to him. According to the man, “I contacted her partly due to my mental disability as she is an attractive healthy woman.”

The yoga studio noted that after the coach refused to accept him as client, Rutherford “began phoning, texting and emailing Westcoast staff at all hours, making staff and some clients uncomfortable”.

“It says it asked Mr. Rutherford to stop but he did not,” according to the tribunal member. “It says that he was ‘making false statements and accusations’, making teachers, front desk staff and some clients uncomfortable.”

Responding to Westcoast’s application to dismiss his complaint, Rutherford said that his sickness is a “spiritual, mental, physical, and social and financially void disease with many different facets and can easily display itself in sexual manifestations especially when abstaining from drugs and alcohol”.

“Again, I have done tremendously well considering I hadn’t used the dangerous chemicals since early 2003,” Rutherford stated.

According to Ohler, it is “reasonably certain” that Westcoast would be able to “establish its non-discriminatory explanation of having chosen to ask Mr. Rutherford to practice elsewhere”.

“Where its staff and clients were being made to feel uncomfortable by persistent accusations, texts, emails and telephone calls, there is no obligation on the part of the Respondent to require its staff and clients to endure such behaviour from the Complainant,” Ohler wrote. g

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The Taming of the Shrew Andrew McNee & Jennifer Lines Photo: Emily Cooper

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Featuring artists from American Ballet Theatre, The National Ballet of Canada and Pennsylvania Ballet

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If you don’t fight for what you want, then who will?

101 shows 700 performances 11 days

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We acknowledge the financial assistance of the Province of British Columbia

12 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 5 / 2019

arts

Transmissions builds a new film language

by Janet Smith

L

isa Jackson is a filmmaker, but she’s never allowed that job description to limit what she creates or where and how she screens her works.

The Anishinaabe artist’s breakout piece was last year’s haunting virtual-reality animation Biidaaban: First Light. In its eerie world, one that won a Canadian Screen Award, nature has overtaken a near-empty, future Toronto, with trees growing through cracks in the sidewalks, vines enveloping skyscrapers, and people commuting by canoe.

Before that, she created a short 360-degree film about the Highway of Tears, an IMAX exploration of lichens, and a five-minute movie about a 1950s residential school that morphs into part zombie flick, part dance video.

All that and more has brought her here, to Transmissions, a 6,000-square-foot, immersive film installation that invites visitors to wander through windy coastal forests, by hauntingly empty glass towers, into soundscapes of ancient languages, and more.

Through the labyrinthine multimedia work at SFU Woodward’s, Jackson asks big questions— about Earth’s future, about humanity’s relationship to it, and about time and Indigeneity.

Simultaneously, she mashes up not just disciplines like film and sculpture, but concepts of science, storytelling, and linguistics.

“I always joke that I can’t stay in my own lane,” says the upbeat artist, an SFU film grad who has finished her MFA at York University in Toronto, where she’s now based. She’s sitting on an East Side café patio, near the place where she’s staying while she completes and premieres the ambitious Transmissions. “My whole thing is ‘Build it and they will come.’

“The tag lines I’m working with now are ‘the roots of meaning’ and ‘knitting the world together’,” she explains. “In western society, we tend to hive things off into ‘That’s culture.

That’s science.’ But from an Indigenous point of view, it’s all connected.”

TRANSMISSIONS IS SPLIT into three parts, with what Jackson describes as a beginning, a middle, and an end. Like Biidaaban, it’s also visually stunning: the artist admits she’s playing with Hollywood spectacle.

Without giving too much away—a big part of the appeal of Jackson’s work is the sense of surprise—Vancouver audiences will first enter a 48-foot-long, six-foot-wide tunnel, surrounded by projections that morph from empty urban streets to a forest and a river. Further engulfing them is a soundscape that features strong winds, while black mirrors along the floor skew perspective and play with what’s above and below ground.

“You feel out of time and space,” says Jackson, who wants to challenge western society’s linear notions of minutes and hours. “I want the audience to have a physical response and an emotional response. To me, that gets closer to the Indigenous

magical purple bioluminescence makes the leaves of the trees glow. Then they move into a womblike dome, take seats on tree stumps surrounded by carefully placed speakers, and listen to the hushed voices of elders talking in Indigenous languages.

moment, was that I realized the complexity of the world-view within those languages,” explains the artist, who reveals that often entire projects come to her in a sudden flash. “Linguistics will predispose you to think in a certain way,” she notes.

Jackson admits her fascination with Indigenous words may in part stem from the fact she cannot speak her own language, Anishinaabemowin. Her mother spoke it as a child, but was forbidden from using it for 10 years of residential school. She passed away when Jackson was 19.

But here is what Jackson has learned of Indigenous languages: humans aren’t the centre of the universe, but are rather part of nature.

The land speaks through us. Time is a verb, and past, present, and future weave together.

“We know that these languages continue to be threatened. What I am particularly concerned with is what is contained within them. The ideas within these languages are incredibly crucial right now, particularly in the times we’re in as it regards the environment,” Jackson says. “I’m not a speaker; I don’t have all the languages, but this is to open the window just a crack.

“Having worked with a lot of elders, what they will all say, across the country, is ‘It is all about the language.’ Because that’s where the culture is,” she emphasizes.

Jackson wants to unsettle us with her immersive imagery and soundscapes. The beauty of Biidaaban and now its “sister project” Transmissions is that they can be interpreted in so many ways. As a sheer sensory experience, they are beautiful, haunting works. Some found Biidaaban disturbing and dystopian; others found it uplifting and hopeful for a new way toward the future.

Dig deeper, and there are philosophical, political, and even mystical ideas. Indigenous people will understand the work on different levels because of some of the cultural touchstones, Jackson comments.

“It’s this idea that we bring together different ideas to open our eyes to other lenses of the world.

That’s what I’m hopeful it will do,” says the filmmaker, who already has a new animated work about her mother and aunt’s residential-school experience on the go and a documentary on a “kind of Indigenous Indiana Jones” under way.

While experiencing Jackson’s ambitious Transmissions, as well as her other work, you may not know how to categorize it—and equally, you may not know quite how to interpret it. And that’s exactly how the artist wants to unsettle you. “I don’t spoon-feed people. You have to decide how you feel about this,” she explains. “I like this idea of people finding themselves in a place where they’re not sure what to feel or think. And that’s generative.” g

THOSE DISAPPEARING languages are not just the climax of her film installation, they are the crux of Jackson’s complex ideas.

“One of the initial motivations for it, that eureka

SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs and Electric Company Theatre present Transmissions at the Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre from next Friday (September 6) to September 28.

Filmmaker Lisa Jackson works with artist Alan Storey on the Plexiglas towers of a sculptural ghost city that viewers can walk through as part of Transmissions. Photo by Emily Cooper

understanding. Because the Eurocentric way is more rational, where the intellectual is put ahead of everything else.”

Viewers then enter a room, where the highly collaborative Jackson has worked with artist Alan Storey, who’s helped create Plexiglas towers that look like the ghost high-rises of an abandoned city. As audience members wander through them on foot, projections make their shadows dance on the structures. Like Biidaaban, the section hints at a postapocalyptic or posthuman world. Jackson operates in an emerging realm of Indigenous futurism.

“It’s been this response to the idea that Indigenous culture is often seen as being a thing of the past, and this is a way to react to today,” she says of the term.

From that lost city, viewers move on to a projected video of what Jackson refers to as the Digging Woman. Artist-performer Jeneen Frei Njootli digs harder and harder down into the earth as rain pounds more and more furiously.

Only when a moonbeam finds her does she rest.

As she did with the VR piece Biidaaban, Jackson imbues the future, and our impending environmental collapse, with hope, or the promise of a way through. In Transmissions’ third section, visitors enter a hyperreal futuristic landscape animated by Victoria artist Kelly Richardson; stars twinkle, a breeze blows, and

Jeneen Frei Njootli plays the Digging Woman in one of the film components of Transmissions.

Beamish wires Giselle for social-media age

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by Janet Smith

iselle is one of the iconic tutu ballets, a 178-yearold fable about a peasant girl who falls in love with Duke Albrecht. When Giselle finds out he’s actually betrothed to another woman, she spirals into madness and dies of a broken heart. The ghostly Wilis, a band of vengeful girl spirits, try to dance Albrecht to death, but Giselle’s love from beyond the grave frees him from their grasp.

At first glance, it might seem difficult to update the story—a romantic antique with its mid-19th-century social mores, its supernatural Wilis, its bouts of hysteria, and its en pointe traditions.

But Vancouver dance artist Joshua Beamish immediately saw its potential for a new high-tech, socialmedia-savvy interpretation.

“I had never seen Giselle made for right here, right now,” he says, speaking to the Straight over the phone

How do I make a ballet as it always has been but dropping it into today?

– Joshua Beamish

“Then I thought the idea of status could be interpreted interestingly: instead of a wealth divide [between American Ballet Theatre’s Catherine Hurlin dances the title role in @giselle, Giselle and Albrecht], they have a a multimedia new take on the classical tutu ballet. Photo by Craig Foster divide in terms of their followers.” between rehearsals and meetings. “The someone could make a whole profile Beamish took his first stab at story lends itself perfectly to where online right now that isn’t real, or the story ballet with a shorter work we are now, with the idea of decep- could be in two relationships at the commissioned by the Royal Ballet tion inherent in the narrative and that same time. in London, building it into the new

full-evening piece @giselle that soon premieres here.

The artist’s MOVETHECOMPANY is known for more contemporary works, like last year’s all-male Saudade, and fractured movement phrases with swivelling spines and erupting body isolations. But Beamish, whose mother taught ballet in Edmonton and then Kelowna, says he loves the classical form and was intrigued by the idea of pulling it into the present day.

“What’s fascinating about ballet is there are these stories that people want to come back to watch year after year. And I’ve always been curious about what keeps people coming back to classical ballet,” Beamish says.

“I thought, ‘What is ballet today? Is it pointe shoes? Is it arabesques? Is it pirouettes? How do I make a ballet as it always has been but dropping it into today, a time when we’re concerned with gender equality, agency, see next page

AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 5 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 13

ARTS

from previous page

Powerful performances drive Coriolanus

by Andrea Warner

THEATRE CORIOLANUS

By William Shakespeare. Directed by Dean Paul Gibson. A Bard on the Beach production. At the Howard Family Stage in the Douglas Campbell Theatre on Sunday, August 25. Continues until September 21

d CORIOLANUS IS ONE of William Shakespeare’s messiest, most morally confusing and cynical plays.

Bard on the Beach’s production—the first Coriolanus in the company’s 30-year history—doesn’t attempt to fix any of that; rather, it embraces all of those complicated pieces, gender-flips the title character and her sworn enemy, and showcases performances so powerful they practically leap off the stage.

Director Dean Paul Gibson sets his Coriolanus in a broken-down Rome in the not-so-distant future, following a solar-flare disaster that has knocked out all digital communications. Impoverished people suffering famine begin rising up against the elites, threatening Rome from within, while war is also breaking out between Rome and the neighbouring region of Volsci. Caius Martius (Moya O’Connell), a merciless warrior, has nothing but contempt for the starving people, whom she labels “dissentious rogues”.

After Martius leads Rome in the battle over the city of Corioli, and soundly defeats her lifelong rival, Tullus Aufidius (Marci T. House), and the Volscian army, she is welcomed back to Rome as a hero and given the name Coriolanus.

She quickly gains favour with the citizens, and is even nominated for office, but two senators, panicked at her popularity, manage to turn the people against her. Unable to humble herself before either the plebeians or the patricians, Coriolanus lashes out, is labelled a traitor, and is banished. Refusing to retreat quietly, she seeks out Aufidius to help her defeat Rome and exact her revenge.

Gibson elicits some incredible performances from his cast, particularly O’Connell. This is a hugely physical role, and not just in the fighting, but in the ways in which she conveys the variations of Coriolanus’s scathing self-righteousness, mercenary coldness, hair-trigger volatility, and occasional vulnerability. It’s fascinating to observe how O’Connell carries Coriolanus’s rage in her body, taut and tense at first, and how it consumes Coriolanus as her ob-

Moya O’Connell carries Coriolanus’s rage in a gender-flipped version that is bloody successful. Photo by Tim Matheson

session with vengeance takes hold. The gender-f lip casting illustrates how the character of Coriolanus is really a warning about the dangers of turning men into killing machines and coding that as a noble expression of masculinity. House brings a seductive yet threatening quality to Aufidius, making the character far more memorable than as written. The scenes between O’Connell and Colleen Wheeler, as Coriolanus’s mother, Volumnia, are a master class in acting. The relationship here—now between mother and daughter, rather than mother and son—takes on different connotations as they argue power, persuasiveness, and likability.

Some of the technical elements of Coriolanus are wanting—the projections feel more like distractions than effective sources of setting or context, and the fight sequences are too slow to feel truly threatening— but the excellent cast is all that you really need to fully appreciate this long overdue staging. g

consideration of diversity?’

“Like, what if I made a ballet about something happening right now?” he says, energized by the idea. “Something where you would say, ‘This is a ballerina, but I’m not watching a ballet about people living in the 1800s; somehow I feel like the character is going through what I go through when I look at my phone or I go out on a date.’ ” The answer, with @giselle, is a movement language that uses the original lush score to blend the cutting-edge with classical technique.

In Beamish’s rendition, the young woman is betrayed, isolated, and then ghosted by her romantic partner on social media. Giselle even live-streams her death.

Fourteen performers—including American Ballet Theatre’s Catherine Hurlin and the National Ballet of Canada’s Harrison James as leads Giselle and Albrecht, plus talents from as far afield as the Pennsylvania Ballet and Ballet Edmonton—dance with and amid motion-capture and socialmedia projections. Beamish says it’s “far and away” the most technically involved show he’s ever created.

Like some of Beamish’s recent work, it draws on personal experience. The artist admits it was inspired by the devastating end to one of his own relationships—one he was very happy with, until a bit of online sleuthing revealed his partner was engaged to someone else. The emotional fallout gave him a lot of insight into the kind of “madness” that might rack Giselle if she lived in the era of Tinder and Instagram.

“How we perceive each other online kind of lends itself to this hysteria and hyperthought,” he suggests.

“Obsession about romance online has become normalized, but is damaging to the psyche.…So many of our relationships are reduced to views.”

Beamish is also weaving today’s social-media platforms, and the disconnected nature of our wired relationships, into the language of the ballet.

Albrecht might perform a duet with a hologram, or two characters might

Dance artist Joshua Beamish drew on one of his own social-media breakups.

video-record movement phrases and “send” them across the stage to each other via screens.

“It’s almost like Snapchat, and that escalates into them actually FaceTiming,” Beamish explains.

“It’s how you’re relating to a video of yourself performing to another person on video.”

At the same time, the themes have contemporary relevance to the #MeToo movement. “I didn’t even intend this, because I started this work four years ago, but holding young men accountable for their treatment of women: that is effectively what the Wilis do,” comments Beamish. As for Beamish’s conclusions about social media itself?

“I think it’s treacherous but also wonderful, and I hope the ballet shows where we’re at and people can decide for themselves,” he allows. “Maybe the message is we should just try to care for one another a little bit.” g MOVETHECOMPANY presents @giselle at the Vancouver Playhouse from next Thursday to Saturday (September 5 to 7).

The opening-night performance is followed by a reception celebrating Jean Orr, the 90-year-old Vancouver ballerina who played Canada’s first Giselle.

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14 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 5 / 2019

WORLD PREMIERE

Lisa Jackson’s

Transmissions

An Indigenous Futurist Multimedia Installation Free Public Tours Tuesday through Sunday September 6 – 28, 2019 SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts Presented by SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs Produced by Electric Company Theatre in association with Violator Films

Photo: Yuula Benivolski

www.sfuwoodwards.ca

AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 5 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 15

ARTS LISTINGS ONGOING

Call for Indigenous Public Artwork The City of New Westminster is seeking to commission professional artist(s) to create permanent site-specific artwork(s) that will be meaningful for Indigenous and other cultures.

The intent is for the artwork(s) to be integrated with the public realm design of the building and /or landscape of the New Westminster Aquatics and Community Centre.

For information on how to respond visit: youractivenw.ca Closing time: September 12, 2019 at 3:00 PM

PNE FAIR The annual Pacific National Exhibition features midway rides, pig races, drag shows, agriculture displays, cooking demonstrations, Superdogs, and the Summer Night Concerts series. To Sep 2, PNE. CORIOLANUS Political warfare and war within a family drive Shakespeare’s story of a woman who fights for honour without compromise. To Sep 15, Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival. From $26.

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW The 2007 spaghetti-western version of Shakespeare’s work is the inspiration behind this Wild West love story. To Sep 21, Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival. From $26.

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE Young Will Shakespeare has writer’s block. To Sep 18, Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival. From $26.

CLASSIC THEATRESPORTS Two teams of performers are pitted against each other in competitive improv matches. To Aug 31, 7:309:15 pm, The Improv Centre. From $10.75.

LUNGS Duncan Macmillan’s off-kilter love story.

To Aug 31, 7:30 pm, Dusty Flower Shop. $25.

THE CLOCK BY CHRISTIAN MARCLAY Twenty-four-hour video that montages film and television footage from the last 70 years.

To Sep 15, The Polygon. By donation.

VANCOUVER ART GALLERY aMOVING STILL: PERFORMATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY IN INDIA to Sep 2 aVIEWS OF THE COLLECTION: THE STREET to Nov 17 aALBERTO GIACOMETTI: A LINE THROUGH TIME to Sep 29 aVIKKY ALEXANDER: EXTREME BEAUTY to Jan 26 aROBERT RAUSCHENBERG 1965–1980 to Jan 26 MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY AT UBC aIN A DIFFERENT LIGHT: REFLECTING ON NORTHWEST COAST ART to summer 2020 aSHAKEUP: PRESERVING WHAT WE VALUE to Sep 1 aSHADOWS, STRINGS AND OTHER THINGS: THE ENCHANTING THEATRE OF PUPPETS to Oct 14

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28 JAK KNIGHT Intersection of visual art, comedy, and hip-hop. Aug 28, 8 pm, Biltmore Cabaret.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 29 JOKES PLEASE! Standup comedy show hosted by Ross Dauk. Aug 29, 9-10:40 pm, Little Mountain Gallery. $10.

PUFF THE MAGIC IMPROV SHOW Improvcomedy show, with second half performed high on weed. Aug 29, 9-11 pm, China Cloud. $10/15.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 30 A NUDE HOPE: A SCI-FI BURLESQUE ADVENTURE A Star Wars burlesque parody. To Aug 31, Fri-Sat. at 8 pm, The Red Gate Revue Stage. $25/40.

DIGITAL CARNIVAL 2019: FIRE Cutting-edge artworks including video projections, interactive installations, and virtual-reality projects. Aug 30, 4-10 pm; Aug 31, 11 am–10 pm, Minoru Park. Free.

EXPERIMENTAL COMPOSITION FOR GAMELAN Gamelan Gita Asmara presents experimental works for Balinese gamelan.

Aug 30, 7-9 pm, 240 Northern. Free.

DEATHTRAP ‘74 An improvised D&D adventure. Aug 30, 10 pm, Little Mountain Gallery. $10.

DAVID MERHEJE Juno-winning comedian performs a night of standup. Aug 30, 10:30 pm, Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Club. $20.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 31 TAIWANFEST 2019 A cultural bridge between Taiwan and Vietnam. Aug 31–Sep 2, 11 am–6 pm, Downtown Vancouver. Free.

TEATRO INTIMO DEL FLAMENCO Karen Flamenco presents a one-hour show featuring traditional flamenco music, dance, puppetry and magic. To Sep 28, Sat. at 3 & 5 pm, The Improv Centre. $12.

CARMEN AGUIRRE Canada Reads winner signs her latest book. Aug 31, 1-3 pm, Indigo Langley. Free.

OH MANADA! BOYLESQUE T.O Male burlesque troupe, with guests Shirley Gnome and April O’Peel. Aug 31, 8 pm, Rio Theatre. $25/30.

THE COMIC STRIP Standup comedy by Robert Peng, Randee Neumeyer, and headliner Jane Stanton. Aug 31, 9 pm, Tyrant Studios. $18.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 THE ANXIETY SHOW—VANCOUVER FRINGE PREVIEW EDITION Alternative comedy show featuring Fringe Festival acts that focus on creating conversation around real issues. Sep 1, 8-10:30 pm, Kino Cafe. By donation ($15 suggested).

THE GREAT CANADIAN PORNO: THE MUSICAL This bold, new, and certainly hilarious musical sees two millennial best friends in crisis, having to navigate ethics in a world that so often rewards the most unethical behaviours. In development since 2014, a Golden Era musical structure lifts this contemporary story, taking audiences on a fast-paced and unexpected ride. Rated 14+. Preview performance September 1 at the Havana Theatre. All other performances at the Firehall Arts Centre. Sep 1-14, 9:30-11 pm, Firehall Arts Centre. $10-15.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 IN PERSON: GEORGE TAKEI Actor, activist, and author signs copies of his new graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy. Sep 3, 7 pm, Indigo Robson. $25.99.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 KOBZARING ACROSS CANADA: THE LOST INSTRUMENTS OF UKRAINE Jurij Fedynskyj, a musician and luthier from Ukraine, gives a lecture/performance featuring three traditional Ukrainian instruments. Sep 4, 7-10 pm, Ukrainian Cultural Centre. By donation.

16 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 5 / 2019

Arts

HOT TICKET

RICHMOND WORLD FESTIVAL

(August 30 and 31 at Minoru Park) Beyond the music stages, cutting-edge media galleries will liven up the Richmond site as the concurrent Your Kontinent Digital Carnival takes on the theme of fire this year. Organizers at the Cinevolution Media Arts Society are transforming eight shipping containers into pop-up galleries featuring multimedia installations from several local and national innovators.

Vancouver-based environmental artist Nicole Dextras takes centre stage with The Dystopian Museum (shown in part here), a set of performances, costumes, and digital projections that explore the environmental impact of wildfires via “ecoscience-fiction” and plant-based garments that draw upon the Greek myth of Persephone.

SOUNDWALK SUNDAY SOUNDWALK (September 1

at 999 Beach Avenue) Gather ’round as the inventive folks at the Vancouver Soundwalk Collective and Vancouver Co-op Radio’s Soundscape show turn the Burrard Bridge into a gigantic musical instrument. How, you ask? A chain of players will be using everyday implements— think maple stems and metal spoons—to make resonant music on the structure’s railings. g

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 MY NAME IS SUMIKO New clown performance created by New(to)Town Collective. Sep 5, What Lab. $12.

CHASE BREYER: PART-TIME SUBSTITUTE TEACHER, FULL TIME CANADIAN SUPERSPY Live-action adventure-comedy by the James Bond of Canadian politics. Sep 5-15, Studio 16. $15.

PERV HUNTERS A feel-good comedy about friendship (and perverts). Sep 5-15, Waterfront Theatre. $15.

ALICE IN GLITTERLAND Geekenders and the Playwrights Theatre Centre present immersive burlesque theatre. Sep 5-14, 7-11 pm, WISE Hall. @GISELLE Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY presents a technology-driven reinvention of the romantic ballet classic. Sep 5-7, 7:30 pm, Vancouver Playhouse. From $35.

THE DEVIL’S DAUGHTER: A STORY OF AN ALMOST MURDER The tale of a young girl’s journey from mischievous imp to the devil’s daughter. Sep 5-14, Arts Umbrella. $12.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM: A GRIMM FAIRY TALE A puppet adaptation of a dark fairy tale. Sep 6-13,, Waterfront Theatre. $12.

TADPOLE: THE LAST EPISODE Debut of a new contemporary work by Eddy van Wyk. Sep 6-15, What Lab. $15.

SONNET’S SHAKESPEARE LAUNCH Launch of Sonnet L’Abbe’s newest collection of poetry. Sep 6, 7 pm, Massy Books. Free.

HIDDEN WONDERS Shawn Farquhar performs a 75-minute magic show in a hidden theatre in Chinatown. Sep 6-8 & 13-15, Hidden Wonders. $40-60.

SARA CWYNAR: IN DISCUSSION Conversation about the exhibition Sara Cwynar: Gilded Age II with the artist and guest curators.

Sep 6, 7-9 pm, The Polygon. By donation.

BEAUTY’S BEAST World premiere of a progressive, new opera for all ages. Sep 6-7, Orpheum Annex. $30/35.

THE DIRTY BETTY SHOW Comedic variety show with an all femme cast. Sep 6, 8-10:30 pm, Café Deux Soleils. $10.

A TENDER THING Shakespeare’s poetry is used to create a new, deeply romantic play.

Sep 6-29, 8 pm, Jericho Arts Centre. $23-29.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 ELIOT QUARTET String quartet from Frankfurt performs works by Haydn, Prokofiev, and Beethoven. Sep 7, 7-9 pm, Unitarian Church of Vancouver. By donation.

ARTS LISTINGS are a public service provided free of charge. Submit events online using the event-submission form at straight. com/AddEvent. Events that don’t make it into the paper due to space constraints will appear on the website.

MOVIES

Narcos no match for fearless Tigers

by Ken Eisner

Newcomer Paola Lara makes a big impression as an orphan of Mexico’s drug wars in the fantastical Tigers Are Not Afraid.

REVIEWS

TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID

Starring Paola Lara. In Spanish, with English subtitles. Rated 14A

d TIGERS ARE Not Afraid has much to recommend it in terms of style, mood, and serious intentions.

This new Mexican title is most remarkable for using smooth CGI and stop-motion animation effects to explore a world of violence and loss through the eyes of small children— collateral damage in the endless tug of war between drug cartels, police, and corrupt politicians.

Written and directed by Issa López, it’s the third of five features she’s made—the others are mostly comedies—belying the naive feel of the story, which centres on Estrella (solid newcomer Paola Lara), a gentle preteen who has to toughen up when her mother disappears. She falls in with a gang of even younger, rooftop-dwelling kids who have also been orphaned, or at least stranded by cartel doings in her poor neighbourhood. (It was shot in Mexico City, unnamed here.)

The de facto orphan leader, known as El Shine (Juan Ramón López), is one of the smallest. He compensates with foolish bravado, stealing a pistol and a phone from one of the local drug thugs, thereby setting in motion an even grimmer set of events. Most revolve around a notorious kingpin-cum-politico known as El Chino (Narcos: Mexico veteran Tenoch Huerta), who seems to have preternatural knowledge of what these small fry are up to.

Animated graffiti of a protective tiger, mysterious blossoms of blood,

Movies

TIP SHEET

ALONG WITH ALL THE FOOD,

crafts, and music, TaiwanFest brings free movies to the north plaza of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

c MANFEI Director Huai-en Chen’s film takes an intimate look at a towering figure of modern dance, screening at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday (August 31). c THE IMMORTAL’S PLAY A Vietnamese circus performer becomes a Taiwanese opera star in this doc, screening at 7 p.m. on Saturday (August 31). c WE WERE CHILDREN Canada’s residential-school system is seen through the eyes of two young girls.

Screening at 1:30 p.m on Monday (September 2).

and various snakelike figures are among the signs that we’re in the land of Guillermo del Toro. (The Pan’s Labyrinth director has, in fact, championed this film.) In the effectively spooky mood it creates, the dead are not quite separate enough from a population always at risk. But the film seems, oddly, a little too comfortable with the ruthless conflict created by the endless and rarely challenged war on drugs—a man-made crisis (thank you, Richard Nixon) that could end tomorrow with some political will. Content and context aside, there’s really not quite enough story to fill out Tigers’ somewhat repetitive 83 minutes. And Vince

Pope’s extremely cheesy synthesizer score underlines a feeling that what concerns the director most is getting a job in Hollywood.

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING A documentary by Tom Donahue.

Rated PG

d THE TITLE SHOULD be in quotes.

And it is when Geena Davis, whose hard work led to this incisive documentary, refers to “This changes everything” as that thing people say whenever women take two steps forward in Hollywood—only to be followed by three steps back.

After building a memorable body of screen work—including groundbreakers like Thelma & Louise and A League of Their Own, which are seen here in apt clips—the ’90s star set up the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, dedicated to moving past the Bechdel test to compile the hard numbers on who gets what kind of work in movies and television, and how much they get paid for it. The math was shocking even to people who expected the worst, but it gave activists something tangible to work with.

Among the many voices heard here, powerhouse actors like Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, and Meryl Streep speak about their own thwarted expectations, while newer arrivals, such as Tiffany Haddish, talk about inspiration taken from trailblazers before them. Still, it’s clear from the many female directors who started out strong and then struggled to fi nd work that little has changed. Indeed, a big chunk of the story involves the legal

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AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 5 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 17

from previous page

manoeuvres—as yet unresolved— required to get the Directors Guild of America to advocate for all its members.

The fast-moving doc is most illuminating when it goes back to the dawn of cinema, when the fledgling art form was loaded with female directors and (especially) screenwriters. As usual, men swooped in when movies started making enough money for the new business to get fully systematized.

Similar points were recently hit in CNN’s fine but absurdly compressed series The Movies. And an air of familiarity hangs over this earnest look at where we’ve been and where we’re headed as a society, at least in how it’s reflected on screens large and small. Its effectiveness is also slightly undercut by the knowledge that Everything— like almost, well, everything—was directed and shot by men. This takes nothing away from Davis’s efforts or from the points raised here.

As she states here, social norms start with early education, with Dick and Jane readers in which Jane never gets to do much. “But we see Dick all the time!”

FIDDLER: A MIRACLE OF MIRACLES

A documentary by Max Lewkowicz.

In English, Yiddish, Japanese, and Thai, with English subtitles. Rated PG

d IF YOU’RE THE offspring of Irish, Italian, or Chinese immigrants, you may think you know your grandparents’ world from stories handed down through the generations, your assumptions perhaps augmented by visits to the old country. But how well can you ever really inhabit their lost worlds?

And for the descendants of the millions of Jews who lived in Russia’s Pale of Settlement and parts of Poland and the Baltic regions at the turn of the last century, there is no land of return.

Luckily, that lost realm was captured, in poetic and darkly humor-

A timeless classic gets its origin story in the affecting Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles.

ous fables, by Solomon Rabinovich, who took the Abrahamic pen name of Sholem Aleichem. In the New World, his stories were turned into Yiddish-language plays and even movies, further entrenching both memory and myth about the shtetls—unpaved Wild West towns in which farmers and merchants eked out a living when not facing pogroms and forced migration. (When Annie Hall asks

30 g u A , y a d i Fr P.M. 4 P.M .–10 g 31 u A , y a d r Satu P.M. 11 A.M .–10

Woody Allen’s character if his grandmother collected recipes, he says, “No. She was too busy getting raped by Cossacks.”)

What’s most remarkable is that these tales got turned into a musical of enduring appeal, and in the early Beatles era, no less. For this affecting doc, writer-director Max Lewkowicz compresses into a tight 90 minutes the saga of how Fiddler on the Roof was created, and why it continues to

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resonate with audiences in places as varied as Japan, Thailand, and inner-city high schools.

The theatre piece was a labour of love and sorrow for its makers, all of whom appear on-camera in archival footage, alongside participants past and present. With book

by Joseph Stein and songs by Jerry Bock (both of whom died in 2010) and Sheldon Harnick (now 95), the story of Tevye and his five daughters really came together—and almost fell apart—when volatile West Side Story director and choreographer Jerome Robbins took over.

For Robbins and others, the brutal realities behind heartbreaking songs like “Sunrise, Sunset” and “Far From the Home I Love” meant confronting harsh religious patriarchy and the inbred racism that led to the Holocaust. Sure, it was only a musical, but it meant that the transcendent spirit represented by painter Marc Chagall’s famous fiddler would have a permanent place to stand, and play. g

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music

Said the Whale is paying it forward

O

by John Lucas

n August 13, a Twitter user going by the handle @ grypewater had a burning question: “How is Said the Whale still a band?”

Dean Watson probably didn’t think his snarky tweet would get a serious response from the artist in question, but then he doesn’t know Tyler Bancroft, who decided to take the Edmonton graphic designer’s question at face value.

“Hard work,” the singer-guitarist wrote, using Said the Whale’s official Twitter account. “Perseverance in the face of an industry that does not favor ‘experienced’ bands. Some incredible supporters who keep coming to our shows and buying our albums after all these years. Literally ZERO luck—but all of the above counteracts that somehow.”

When Bancroft meets up with the Straight for an interview at the Storm Crow Alehouse on West Broadway, he explains why he decided Watson’s cynical query warranted a thoughtful answer. “I think he asked the question flippantly and just put it on his socal-media shitpost, but I took it as an opportunity to answer in earnest, because I do think that it’s a valid question,” he says. “And I’m proud of the fact that we’re still a band. I think it is an accomplishment to not have broken up after 12 years. So, good for us! We deserve the kudos.”

Bancroft admits that there was a time when Said the Whale came very close to not being a band any longer.

By the beginning of 2017, two longtime members—drummer Spencer Schoening and bassist Nathan Shaw— had departed, leaving the core trio of Bancroft, singer-guitarist Ben Worcester, and keyboardist Jaycelyn Brown.

Lesser bands might have packed it in at that point, but the remaining members of Said the Whale opted to make a new record instead. They recruited We Are the City’s Cayne McKenzie to help them flesh out their songs with synthesizer tones and electronic textures.

If the resulting album—titled As Long as Your Eyes Are Wide—didn’t sound much like the ones that had preceded it, that was entirely by design.

“That experimental record happened—and could only have happened—with the personnel that helped it happen,” Bancroft notes. “Also, we

Said the Whale’s members are (left to right) Ben Worcester, Jaycelyn Brown, and Tyler Bancroft. Photo by Vanessa Heins

were feeling a bit reckless, like ‘Yesterday we thought maybe we won’t be a band, so fuck it, let’s make a weird record that nobody will expect—but we still think the songs, at their core, are very intensely personal.’ And they are.

They’re dark and sad, and all of us had been going through some shit—the band possibly breaking up kind of being the least of our worries, things were so weird in our personal lives.”

The titles of many of the songs the group was making during this time (prime examples being “Step Into the Darkness” and “Nothing Makes Me Happy”) confirm that last point. As they usually do, however, the black clouds hanging over the trio’s members evaporated. And, as justifiably proud as Said the Whale is of As Long as Your Eyes Are Wide, Bancroft admits that the aesthetic of that project was heavily reliant on McKenzie’s input. When it came time to make its follow-up—this year’s Cascadia—a change of tactics was in order: “ ‘Let’s sit down with guitars and make the music that we know we’re capable of making and that we’ve been making

We’re getting older and we want to be investing more into our community.

– Tyler Bancroft

for a long time,’ ” he recalls saying. “ ‘These are our comfortable instruments. Let’s just do that, and not worry about always having to call somebody to make a sound for us.’

This record is a return to the comfort of making music in our bedrooms, and in my studio. A lot of it was recorded in my studio, which is an old converted bike shed behind the apartment that I rent. Some of it was

recorded up at Ben’s cabin, and that was very relaxed and comfortable.

Some of it was done in Toronto with some friends of ours producing— Alex Bonenfant and Jay Merrow produced more than half the record.”

Also along for the ride in various capacities were Mounties members Parker Bossley and Steve Bays. Bossley played bass on about half of the tracks on Cascadia, and Bays mixed and/or produced several of them. Both men also contributed to the writing of the single “Record Shop”. A strutting return to the guitar-based indie pop that Said the Whale arguably does best, the song is a celebration of music’s power to patch up a broken heart.

If Cascadia has a lyrical throughline, though, it’s one that has surfaced time and time again in the group’s songs. The record’s opening track, “Wake Up”, is rife with vivid descriptions of the beauty of the North Shore mountains and the sweeping vistas of Howe Sound; its closing cut, “Gambier Island Green”, imparts idyllic images of towering cedars and ocean spray. The West Coast, and Vancouver

in particular, has long been a sort of muse for Said the Whale.

Now, the band is doing its best to pay some of that inspiration forward by fostering the next crop of local talent. Toward that end, the act spent part of this spring performing at assemblies around the Lower Mainland, raising money for the host schools’ music programs. It also held a contest to find an opening act for its concert next week in Stanley Park. (The winner, Jaden Bricker, is a 17-year-old wunderkind who has released a staggering nine albums of deeply quirky but impeccably crafted pop in the past two years.)

Still in his mid-30s, the boyish Bancroft is a tad too young to wear the title of elder statesman, but he says he and his bandmates see mentoring up-andcoming talent as an opportunity to make a positive impact on the cultural life of the place they love. “As we get older and more mature—and I’ve got children of my own now—it’s something that makes you reflect back on your career and wonder what you’ve done to contribute to the space around you, and what you’re doing to lay a foundation for the young people in this city,” he says. “I think about that a lot, having a kid. It’s kind of a cliché: a band gets older and starts doing things for their community, whereas when they’re younger they’re just, like, shitheads that are not paying attention—and that’s fine. That’s great, that’s totally normal. We’re very much following that cliché, in that we’re getting older and we want to be investing more into our community.”

Said the Whale might be setting the stage for the next generation, but don’t think for a second that the group will be stepping down from that stage itself, at least not in the foreseeable future. Having weathered a dozen years in the indie-rock trenches, Bancroft and company have no intention of quitting now—with zero apologies to the likes of Dean Watson.

“Now I feel confident that we could be a band forever in some capacity,” Bancroft says. “The three of us—me, Ben, and Jayce—have been through enough as people that I don’t think we’ll ever break up, as scary as that might be for some people.” g Said the Whale plays Malkin Bowl next Friday (September 6).

Richmond fest welcomes the world

by Mike Usinger

POP EYE

S

ometimes the best way to get a handle on a party is to think long and seriously about who’s been invited.

Consider, for example, the talent headed to the various stages of this year’s Richmond World Festival. At the top of the marquee you’ll find the Ontario-based Strumbellas, whose latest album, Rattlesnake, does a brighteyed and entirely admirable job of bringing together gothic folk, bright-eyed alt-country, and classic indie pop. The key thing to note there is that the group founded by singer Simon Ward back in 2008 remains committed to the idea that there’s room for everyone on the dance floor, regardless of what section of the record store they prefer to spend their money in.

But the idea of inclusion really starts to get interesting when you look at the undercard, starting with Toronto’s long-running Bedouin Soundclash.

Hard as this might be to believe today, there was once a time when genre-mashing was something restricted to the fringes of pop music. Think the Clash’s weed-addled punkreggae opus Sandinista!. Or Public Enemy climbing into bed with mulleted metalheads Anthrax for “Bring the Noise”. Or the Beastie

Toronto’s genre-mashing Bedouin Soundclash is one of the big draws at Richmond World Festival.

Boys alienating every frat boy who loved Licensed to Ill with the everything-except-thekitchen-sink freakout Paul’s Boutique.

Bedouin Soundclash first surfaced at the turn of the millennium, at a time when pop music was still weirdly segregated. Musical movements rose and fell every couple of years, classic grunge giving way to monochromatic alt-rock to glowstick-lit electronica, testosterone-rage rap-rock acts like Limp Bizkit and Korn taking over the mosh pits of America only to get lost in a garage-

rawk tsunami powered by the white-belted likes of the Strokes, White Stripes, and Hives.

In 2001 Bedouin Soundclash threw roots-radical reggae, Studio One–vintage ska, and whiteriot punk into the same blender. And while they were hardly the first act to do so, what was unexpected was the way that it instantly took hold not in the underground, but in the mainstream, with its breakthrough single, “When the Night Feels My Song”, not only entrenching itself at No. 1 on Toronto radio, but owning MuchMusic in 2004. The message was clear: boundaries were meant to broken.

Which brings us in a roundabout way to the Richmond World Festival. The “World” part of the yearly two-day celebration is important, if for no other reason than that the programming does indeed take a global view.

Thanks to success stories like the Richmond Night Market and Aberdeen Centre, Richmond is sometimes seen these days as a Mandarin-speaking outpost. The reality is that the fast-growing onetime Vancouver suburb is as cosmopolitan as the rest of the Lower Mainland, with census figures showing that 77 languages are spoken within city limits.

The unofficial mandate of the Richmond World Festival is to make sure that, as in the worlds of the Strumbellas and Bedouin Soundclash, you don’t have to be one thing—cowboy-

hat-wearing country purist, or dreadlocked reggae disciple—to sit at the table. Drilling that home is this year’s musical undercard.

Included are powerhouse genre jumper Jocelyn Alice, culture-jamming OHR Afrika Collective, world-music mixmasters John Welsh & Los Valientes, and soul-influenced siblings Sister Says.

Halifax’s Neon Dreams, meanwhile, leaves one wondering what founders Frank Kadillac and Adrian Morris love most: EDM–dusted radio pop, reggae-jacked hip-hop, or sunbaked world music, with the answer most likely being “all of the above”.

“We aren’t just giving people a bunch of different genres,” Kadillac has explained, “we are giving them a mood.”

And with that, they prove themselves the perfect musical guests for something like the Richmond World Festival, where the inclusiveness starts with the fact that the event is free.

The message? That would be that, more than ever, there’s no reason that we can’t all happily coexist at the same table, at least where music is concerned. The rest of the world could learn something from that. g The Richmond World Festival takes place Friday and Saturday (August 30 and 31) at Minoru Park in Richmond.

Go to richmondworldfestival.com/ for details.

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Los Angeles–based band Rival Sons is that rarest of things in the pop-cultural climate of 2019: a rock ’n’ roll outfit making a decent living with its music.

M

ore than a band, California’s Rival Sons is a family, with a bond between its four members strong enough to keep things together when the road gets challenging.

That includes being away from loved ones while on tour, something that weighs on guitarist Scott Holiday whenever he’s far from home.

“I’m a dad with two young kids,” the Los Angeles–based musician says, reached in Milwaukee on a late-summer round of touring for Rivals Sons’ sixth and latest album, Feral Roots. “So it’s not cool to be away from them. That’s the roughest part. I like being on the road and I love playing shows. The band is a big family out here, and we all love each other. But I also love my family at home and I want to be with my kids, every day and every minute.”

The problem, in these days of digital streaming and flat album sales, is that touring is what pays the bills. And that Holiday is fortunate enough to get a paycheque for doing something he loves isn’t lost on him.

“Even though we’re not the largest band on planet Earth, we have some level of security in this business,” he says. “We’ve built something that’s reasonably successful that works. We have a great fan base that’s allowed us to make a living and to have lived off this band for a long time now.”

There was a point when the idea of Rival Sons making a career out of music seemed an impossible dream.

Like his fellow Rival Sons—singerguitarist Jay Buchanan, drummer Mike Miley, and bassist Dave Beste— Holiday has spent most of his life in bands, some of which ended up with major-label deals. (Miley and Holiday at one point worked together in a mid-’00s rock project called Black Summer Crush.)

With Rival Sons, the quartet chose to rely on blazing-guns guitars for a sensibility that mixes the rawness of Electric-era Cult with the majesty of the Killers at their most Springsteenobsessed. That’s a blueprint that would have achieved instant liftoff a generation ago, but it took a bit longer to catch on in a millennium where Tyler, the Creator and Travis Scott are the new rock stars.

“There was a time when we’d been signed and were working, but were hemorrhaging money,” Holiday recalls. “I remember being in this theatre in Cleveland. No one knew who we were, we weren’t moving records, and we weren’t getting any promotion.

Nothing good was happening, but I knew that the band was very good— we were really on point and really welloiled, and had our shit together.

“I remember thinking I was going to have a nervous breakdown—‘I’m away from family, we’re not making any money, and I have nothing to show for not being at home with them,’ ” he continues. “It was like, ‘What the fuck are we doing? There’s not even anyone here tonight.’ It

was really upsetting and difficult, but we put our heads together to remind ourselves why we were doing what we were doing. We kind of had a powwow at the Agora Theater in Cleveland and said, ‘You know what—we’re doing music because it’s in our hearts, and we’re doing music because it was what we were born to do. And let’s have faith that this will change—that even though there’s no one in the theatre, that there’s something good happening with us.’ ” The reward for sticking it out has been slow but steady growth, with the last two Rival Sons albums, Hollow Bones (2016) and Feral Roots, both going Top 10 on the Billboard hard-rock chart.

Recognizing that the stakes have been raised over the past couple of years, both Holiday and Buchanan obsessed about what they wanted to accomplish with the new record, decamping to a remote cabin in the woods of Tennessee, and then thinking seriously about how to move Rival Sons forward.

Out of that time came a conviction that whatever they were doing, it had to be real. And while that might sound like something intangible, there’s an iron-clad case they achieved it with Feral Roots, a bluestinted rock opus that at times is bombastic and turbocharged (“Do Your Worst” and “Back in the Woods”) and at others mystical and celestial (“Look Away” and “Feral Roots”).

As much as Rival Sons isn’t afraid to roll out double-cherry-pie choruses or lightning-strike guitar solos, the band also understands that big issues are important. On that front, check out the soul-drenched “Shooting Stars”, which concludes with the beautifully timely line “My love is stronger than your hate will ever be.”

Speaking volumes about how far Rival Sons has come today not just artistically, but also as a strong draw on both the festival and club circuits, Holiday and his bandmates now look back upon that night in Cleveland with fondness.

As much as there are sacrifices to be made for Rival Sons, sometimes it all seems worth it.

“We quote that show quite often when we’re going out and playing for 45,000 people,” he says proudly. “We look at each other when the crowd is already singing our riffs before we get on-stage and we know it’s going to be a great show. And we say, ‘It all goes back to Agora and Cleveland.’ That’s really romantic and powerful. It’s very real and it’s very deep, what we’re trying to accomplish with our audience.

Playing this kind of music isn’t cocaine and hookers. It’s that we want to connect with people’s hearts, because what we’re doing is coming from our hearts.

While it might sound overly dramatic, really it’s the truth.” g Rival Sons plays the Summerset Music & Arts Festival at Fort Langley on Friday (August 30).

MUSIC LISTINGS

Music TIP SHEET

CONCERTS JUST ANNOUNCED AK-747S Doom-punk band celebrates 10 years, with guests NEEDS, Rebuild/Repair, and Crashing Into Things. Sep 28, 8 pm, The Pub 340. $10/15.

FULL MOON FEVER: A RE-IMAGINING OF THE CLASSIC TOM PETTY ALBUM Steve Dawson is joined by Birds of Chicago, Jim Byrnes, Roy Forbes, Rich Hope, Ndidi Onukwulu, Dawn Pemberton, Linda McRae, Maya Rae, and Tom Wilson in a re-imagining of the classic album. Oct 10-11, 8 pm, Kay Meek Arts Centre. $56/53/29.

FELABRATION 2019 Celebration of Afrobeat creator Fela Kuti features performances by the Boom Booms, Queer as Funk, Mostly Marley, Tonye Aganaba, and Kesseke Yeo. Oct 19, 7 pm, Imperial Vancouver. $30.

c THE NATIONAL (August 28 at Deer Lake Park) Matt Berninger might be the last great rock star. Sure, he’s middle-aged and bespectacled and lanky and possibly balding, but if you doubt his unparalleled power to command a crowd, do yourself a favour and be at Deer Lake tonight. (His band’s pretty good too.)

must-attend for anyone who can hardly wait for Courtney Barnett to come back to town, and we’re not just saying that because Alex Lahey is Australian. Like Barnett’s best, Lahey numbers like “You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me” are as smart and incisive as they are wryly funny.

c SUN KIL MOON (September 2 at Imperial Vancouver) Mark Kozelek is maddening. The former Red House Painter has gone from delivering poignant poetry paired with aching melodies to muttering his grocery list over a single chord for 11 minutes. But we love him for “Heron Blue” and “Among the Leaves” and we always will.

c CARLY RAE JEPSEN (August 28 and 29 at the Commodore Ballroom) It feels weird arguing PETER BERNSTEIN Guitarist performs with that someone who has had CapU jazz ensembles. Oct 25, 8 pm, BlueShore as massive a hit as “Call Me Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. $32/29.

Maybe” is criminally underrated, BROCKHAMPTON Rap collective from but local hero Carly Rae Jepsen Texas. Oct 26, 8 pm, PNE Forum. Tix on sale should really be headling Aug 29, 10 am, $56.50.

Rogers Arena, shouldn’t she?

HALLOWEEN AT THE COMMODORE Halloween bash featuring performances by Stickybuds, Moontricks, Dirtwire, and Rumpus & Sivz. Oct 26, 10 pm, Commodore Ballroom.

c HAYES CARLL (August 31 at the Biltmore Cabaret) Someone’s gotta write those earnestly rootsy GOLDROOM L.A.-based songwriter/producer. songs about ordering one more Nov 1, 8 pm, Fortune Sound Club. $25. round of beer under the watchful PHARIS AND JASON ROMERO Junopainted-on-black-velvet eyes of winning duo performs old-timey songs. Jan Jesus Christ and Elvis Presley. In 17, 8 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the 2019, that someone is Hayes Carll.

Performing Arts. $35/32.

MIDGE URE Scottish rock singer-songwriter performs on his Songs, Questions, and Answers Tour, playing alongside multiinstrumentalist Tony Solis. Jan 21, 7:30 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. $22.

STRUNZ & FARAH Guitar duo blends Latin and Iranian roots. Jan 26, 8 pm, Kay Meek Arts Centre. $49/46/29.

GORD GRDINA’S HARAM Oud player Grdina performs with his group and guitarist Marc Ribot. Feb 28, 8 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. $42/39.

APRIL VERCH Fiddler, singer-songwriter, and step dancer. May 16, 8 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. $35/32.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28 SUMMER NIGHT CONCERTS Performances

by Colin James (Aug 28), I Love the 90’s (Aug 29), Hammer’s House Party (Aug 30), Billy Idol (Aug 31), the Beach Boys (Sep 1), and TLC (Sep 2). To Sep 2, PNE Amphitheatre. Free with PNE admission; reserved seats available.

THE NATIONAL Indie-rock band from Cincinnati. Aug 28, 6:30 pm, Deer Lake Park. $65.

CARLY RAE JEPSEN Multiplatinum pop singer-songwriter from Mission plays two nights.

Aug 28-29, 8 pm, Commodore Ballroom.

is hiring Administrative Assistant permanent,full time (40 hr/week) Wage - $23.00 per/hour Requirements: Good English, previous clerical experience 1-2 years. Education: Secondary school. Main duties: Provide administrative and clerical support to management; Maintain electronic and hard copy filing system, co-ordinate the flow of information; Assist with generating/reviewing reports, invoices, purchase logs etc.; Take responsibility for sorting, filing and storing data using computer software; Conduct telephone conversations and answer calls; Schedule and confirm appointments and meetings; Order office supplies and maintain inventory.

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TESSELLA CONSTRUCTION INC. is looking for Tilesetters, Greater Vancouver, BC. Permanent, Full time. Wage - $ 25.00 /hour Requirements: Experience 2-3 years, Good English. Education: Secondary school.

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QUANTIC English musician, producer, and DJ. Aug 30, 9 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. $25.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 SAID THE WHALE Local indie-rock band.

Sep 6, 7 pm, Malkin Bowl. $34.50.

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS Indie-folk band from Claremont, California. Sep 6, 7 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Note: moved from original venue of Imperial Vancouver. $30.50.

ALEX LAHEY Australian alt-rock singersongwriter, with guests Kingsbury. Sep 1, Biltmore Cabaret. $14.99.

BABE GURR CD RELEASE CONCERT, PRESENTED BY ROGUE FOLK CUB Award-winning singer-songwriter Babe Gurr celebrates the release of her new recording Blurred Lines at the Rogue!

Joining her will be Paul Pigat (guitar), Nick Apivor (percussion), Jeff Gammon (stand-up bass), and Simon Kendall (keys, accordion). Babe’s sound defies labeling and is a unique fusion of blues/pop, with a twist of roots. Sep 6, 8-10:30 pm, St. James Hall. $24 ($20 members).

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17

SUN KIL MOON Folk-rock act from San Francisco. Sep 2, Imperial Vancouver. $25.

ROMA ADDITION TO WORLD MUSIC Maestro Lache Cercel and his band will take you on a musical journey, demonstrating the phenomenon of cultures colliding.

African and European music encountered each other in 19th century America, the mixing of these very different approaches to music led to the creation of many new styles including blues, jazz, rock, etc... Sep 17, 7 pm, The Cultch. $37.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 31

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1

RAHIM ALHAJ TRIO Oud player mixes Iraqi and contemporary stylings. Apr 23, 8 pm, Presentation House Theatre. $32/29.

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SUMMERSET MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL Featuring performances by Rival Sons, the Trews, and Jess Roper (Fri); April Wine, Kim Mitchell, the Matinée, and JP Maurice (Sat); and Paul Brandt, the Washboard Union, Kadooh, and the Wild North (Sun). Aug 30–Sep 1, Fort Langley National Historic Site of Canada.

Three-day passes $189-399.

HAYES CARLL Singer-songwriter from Texas.

Aug 31, 7:30 pm, Biltmore Cabaret. $24.50.

RENEE ROSNES Juno-winning jazz pianist and composer performs with the CapU jazz ensembles. Mar 6, 8 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. $38/35.

Careers

Sep 5, 7:30 pm, Queen Elizabeth Theatre. $250/199/129/95/65/45.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 30

A TRIBUTE TO BIRD AND DIZ A celebration of the fathers of bebop featuring the CapU jazz ensembles and faculty guests. Jan 24, 8 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. $30/27.

Employment EMPLOYMENT

c IRON MAIDEN (September 3 at Rogers Arena) When is Iron Maiden not on tour these days?

Don’t get us wrong, we think it’s awesome—up the irons and all that!—but we kinda feel for Bruce Dickinson, who is not only the band’s frontman but also the guy who flies the goddamn plane.

c ALEX LAHEY (September 1 at the Biltmore Cabaret) This is a

TORD GUSTAVSEN TRIO Jazz pianist from Norway. Jan 19, 8 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. $30/27.

SLEEP Doom-metal power trio from San Jose.

Sep 2, 8 pm, Commodore Ballroom. $39.50.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 IRON MAIDEN British heavy-metal band, with guests the Raven Age. Sep 3, 7:30 pm, Rogers Arena. Tix $125/99.50/89/69/49.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE Alt-rock quintet from Bellingham, with guest Jenn Champion.

Sep 5, 6:45 pm, Malkin Bowl. $59.50.

BRYAN FERRY British art-pop singersongwriter, former frontman of Roxy Music.

VANCOUVER TOTAL CONSTRUCTION INC. o/a Total Construction is looking for an Administrative Assistant. Permanent, full-time job. Wage - $ 23.00 /h. Benefits: Medical, Dental.

Requirements: Good English, previous clerical experience 1-2 years. Education: Secondary school. Main duties: Provide general administrative and clerical support; Create, save and modify various documents; Distribute incoming correspondence; Answer telephone and electronic enquiries;Schedule and coordinate meetings;Set up and maintain information filing systems;Order office supplies; Resolve administrative problems.

Company’s business address and job location: 748 Marine Dr, North Vancouver, BC V7M 1H3 Please apply by e-mail: totalconstructionhr@gmail.com

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EMPLOYMENT Music Repairs Basone Guitars – Vancouver's BEST Guitar Shop!

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The Georgia Straight Confessions, an outlet for submitting revelations about your private lives—or for the voyeurs among us who want to read what other people have disclosed.

MUSIC LISTINGSare a public service provided free of charge, based on available space and editorial discretion. Submit events online using the event-submission form at straight.com/AddEvent. Events that don’t make it into the paper due to space constraints will appear on the website.

Web Artists

BRENDAN + CHERYL reloaded ep online shops, extras, new stuff brendanandcheryl.bandcamp.com Youtube - "Early Rolling Stones Tribute Concert Mick Believe and the Charming Deviates Sundquist Blues"

Support Groups ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION Looking to start a parent support group in Kitsilano.

Please call Barbara 604 737 8337

Scan to confess Rental market I really wish the city of Vancouver regulates rental listings.

Apart from the blatantly racist and sexist ads, I am so sick of seeing renters renting out living rooms and rooms, advertising them as “shared” and charging an absurd amount for them. Really? C’mon...this is getting beyond ridiculous!

Happy cashier :) Hello, I’m a 29 year old man, and I’ve lived in YVR for 4 years now, as I’m doing my PhD at UBC. I used to be very shy, but I’ve been working very hard to turn my life around from depression and social anxiety, so I decided... (con’t @straight.com)

I ate magic mushrooms today and I’ve come to the realization that they have served their purpose in my life and I’m ready to move on. I was going to cap my day off with Molly... but I’m on my way to flush it.

Life awaits.

SILENT HEROES...

A big thumbs up and thanks to those civilians who would not hesitate to stand up to goofs on transit, sidewalks and shops.

You’re out there and silent..but when we need you- you step forward. Thanks to all of you who stepped up and made a difference.

Still crossing my ngers That democracy in Hong Kong wins. It seriously sucks to have pro-Communists protesting in the streets of Vancouver against democracy. That’s the last I want to see that. Yay Hong Kong democratic souls! I love you!

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to post a Confession

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For info - 604-277-5137 www.heartofrichmond.com A MDABC peer-led support group is a safe place to share your story, your struggles and accomplishments, and to listen to others as they share similar concerns. Please Note: Support groups are not intended to provide counselling/therapy. ?

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A MDABC peer-led support group

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Anorexics & Bulimics Anonymous 12 Step based peer support program which addresses the mental, emotional, & spiritual aspects of disordered eating Tuesdays @ 7 pm @ Avalon Women's Centre 5957 West Blvd - 604-263-7177 Battered Women's Support Services provides free daytime & evening support groups (Drop-ins & 10 week groups) for women abused by their intimate partner. Groups provide emotional support, legal information & advocacy, safety planning, and referrals.

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Women need not settle for subpar sex

by Dan Savage

b I’M A STRAIGHT woman and have been sexually active for about six years.

I’m in my mid-20s now and about ready to become a “man-hating feminist”. I feel like I can figure out what a guy wants in bed pretty easily. I cannot remember a single time when I’ve had sex with a guy that he has not had an orgasm. I, on the other hand, have never had an orgasm. Quite the opposite! I’ve barely even been aroused lately when I am having sex because it’s easy to tell when the guy I’m with just wants to come and that is the only thing on his mind. This makes me want to just get it over with. I’ve become really angry with the male population and their lack of care for pleasing a woman.

Will it take a Women’s Pleasure Revolution for men to realize that their female counterparts have needs too?

Granted, I’ve had sex with only five guys—but in my mind, Dan, that’s five too many. I also have girlfriends in the same boat. Men skip foreplay, they don’t return the favour when it comes to oral, and they’re so eager to get their penises in my vagina, they barely touch me before doing so! THIS MAKES ME FEEL USED. I’m a giving woman by nature, but I feel like men just take. I don’t hate men. I actually really like men. In fact, I was madly in love with one of the five.

sleep with. Say it and mean it. And if those things don’t happen—if he skips the foreplay or won’t go down on you or refuses to touch you with anything other than his dick—then he doesn’t get to fuck you. Get up, get dressed, and go. The sooner you walk out on guys who don’t want to do those things, the sooner you’ll find yourself in bed with guys who do. So no more having sex to “get it over with” (GIOW), no more sticking around for shitty GIOW sex that leaves you feeling used.

Some guys will be happy to see you go. Given a choice between a woman they can’t treat like a crusty tube sock and an actual crusty tube sock, a statistically significant percentage of straight guys will choose the crusty tube sock.

Don’t waste your precious time or pussy on guys like that. And don’t waste a moment of your time or any of your pussy on guys who will engage in a little half-assed foreplay or go down on you for 30 seconds before they try to stick their dicks in you. Only fuck the guys who enjoy foreplay and are excited to eat your pussy before fucking you—or instead of fucking you.

The revolution you want isn’t going to come because some homo ordered straight boys everywhere to start engaging in foreplay and eating pussy. The revolution is only going to come—you’re only going to come—if you and your friends and all women everywhere stop settling for GIOW sex. Now, some women have GIOW sex because they’re afraid a guy might react violently if they withdraw consent. They fear male violence, and that’s a sadly reasonable fear. But

- Really Enraged/Vexed Over Lazy Turds “Lots of foreplay,

mutual oral, enough touch to get me going or, better yet, get me off at least once—all of these things have to happen before we fuck.” Practise saying that in a mirror, REVOLT, and then say it out loud to the next guy you

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boyfriends fucking other women.

So far it’s been fantasy-only, but I’m intrigued by the prospect of a real cuckquean scenario. However, I’ve always been reluctant to share my kink.

It’s not that I fear rejection or judgment.

I think most guys would be into it, including the lovely man I’m currently in a committed relationship with. Rather, it’s my own discomfort with a kink that I fear stems from an unhealthy emotional place. Insecurity, avoiding intimacy, and difficulty trusting men are all issues I’ve struggled with, and the cuckquean kink plays right into all of that. I’ve worked with therapists over the years and gotten into a somewhat solid place emotionally. Alas, my kink remains, and has gotten stronger to the point where I’m imagining my guy fucking someone else about 99 percent of the time in order to come. I wish I could get more enjoyment from “normal” sex. I’ve read your column long enough to know that I should probably just embrace my kink and enjoy it.

But while I’m trying my damnedest to be sex-positive, I can’t get around the nagging feeling that there’s something “unhealthy” about this fantasy. If my kink is based on specific insecurities/ fears, do they get even more hardwired into my brain with every orgasm?

A lot of people’s kinks are essentially eroticized fears: the fear of being humiliated, the fear of being exposed, the fear of being cheated on, et cetera.

Not everyone eroticizes these fears, of course, but so many of us do that it really should be covered in sex-ed courses. In your case, TRC, your erotic imagination took something that scares you—being cheated on—and turned it into something that arouses you. The difference between your worst fear and your ultimate turn-on is control. If your man fucks another woman, it will happen because you wanted it to (you gave him permission) and there will be something in it for you (it will get you off ). Which is not to say you ever have to act on this. You don’t. Plenty of straight men are turned on by the fantasy of their wives being with other men but know they couldn’t handle the reality of it, so they enjoy it as a fantasy only.

But they don’t—or the healthy ones don’t—deny themselves the fantasy, whether it’s just playing it out in their heads or their monogamous partners indulging them with a little cheatingcentred dirty talk during sex.

We can’t will kinks away, TRC, we can only embrace and accept them.

Again, that doesn’t mean we have - This Reluctant Cuckquean to act on them—some fantasies can never be realized for moral reasons— Two quick questions: (1) How much but to beat ourselves up about our more hardwired could something kinks is a waste of time. g possibly become if you already have to think about it 99 percent of the On the Lovecast, rival advice columnist E. b I’M A STRAIGHT woman in my mid- time in order to climax? (2) What if Jean Carroll: savagelovecast.com. Email: 30s. For most of my adult life, I’ve imagining your guy fucking other mail@savagelove.net. Follow Dan on Twitter gotten off on fantasizing about my women is “normal” sex for you? @fakedansavage. ITMFA.org.

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too many women have GIOW sex to avoid disappointing male partners who have already disappointed them; too many women slap on a smile and fake an orgasm to spare the feelings of dudes who don’t give a shit about their feelings or their pleasure.

You say you were in love with one of the five guys you had sex with, REVOLT, which I hope means you didn’t fear him and could talk to him. Yet every single time you had sex, you allowed this guy to essentially masturbate inside you. You didn’t stick up for yourself, you didn’t advocate for your own pleasure, you didn’t say “Here’s what you need to do to please me.”

Take a little personal responsibility here: you let Mr. One-In-Five get away with it. He let you down—he should have been more proactive about pleasing you—but you also let yourself down. No more. Insist on more and better from here on out, REVOLT, and you will get more and better.

P.S. If what you meant by “I have never had an orgasm” is that you’ve never had an orgasm at all, ever, alone or with a partner, then you need to start masturbating right now. You’ll enjoy partnered sex more if you know what it takes to make you come and you can show your partners exactly what that looks like. And whether you’re already masturbating or not, please get your hands on a copy of The Vagina Bible, Jen Gunter’s new book on everything vaginal, vulval, and clitoral.

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